Interview with Author – Steve Haberman

About Steve Haberman:
I earned a B. A. Degree from the University of Texas in Austin, majoring in political science and minoring in history. Afterwards I passed my stock broker's exam and worked for a time at a brokerage house before returning to school. Upon getting my legal assistant certification from UCLA, I worked at a law firm in Los Angeles. Successful stock market investments allowed me to retire early and to pursue two dreams, writing and foreign travel, and I have since traveled extensively and frequently to Europe.
I enjoy the cosmopolitan bustle, sidewalk cafes, the museums of Berlin, Rome, Vienna, London, Budapest, and Paris. Many of these capitals find their way into my stories of intrigue…"Murder Without Pity" (Paris), "The Killing Ploy" (London, Berlin, Paris, and Lugano) and the soon-to-be-released "Darkness and Blood" (London and Paris) and "Winston Churchill's Renegade Spy" (London and Zurich). I'm presently researching for a fifth novel that will be set in Berlin.

What inspires you to write?
What inspires me to write? The same thing that inspires me to read and to travel: to escape the ordinary. Many people adopt well to the ordinary. I don't. I never have, and I never will. With my writing, I try to write about characters, who have lived unusual, but believe lives. These are the types of people I read about in fiction and in history.

Tell us about your writing process.
My writing process is really very simple. I go through numerous security checks, hop on a plane, fly fifteen hours, eat terrible airline food, get off, whether in London, Berlin, Paris, or some other European city, and start touring and taking notes.
Afterwards, I go through numerous security checks again, again hop on a plane, again eat terrible food, land, and sort out my notes.
I may outline; I may not. If I'm lucky (and I've had this happen with "Darkness and Blood" and "Winston Churchill's Renegade Spy"), I just start writing what I hear in my head. If I'm not, I may take what I've researched on the most, since that's what's interested me, and start writing from there.
For me, writing is like sculpting. The more you chip away at it, the clearer your central idea becomes.

For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Never. For better or worse, I don't chat, text, email, send postcards, open a savings account for them, send cards during the holidays.

What advice would you give other writers?
1. Don't quit your day job.
2. Write what interests you.
3. Be very careful who you give your creation to for feedback. Beware of Read/Critique. Proceed with caution. They can be helpful. They can also be deadly.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
After going through the usual process of attending writers' conferences, talking to some agents, dealing with editors, and seeing all the hoops I'd have to jump through (elevator pitch, query letter, outlines) plus hearing stories of publishers coldly firing authors, I finally decided that I would rather go it alone. I'd rather make less money and be my own boss than make more, but be under someone's heel. It's as simple as that. I have no desire to be rich or a marquee writer. I just want to write my way and publicize my way.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I have no idea, other than paper-and-hard backs will still be around.